Police Say School Principal Intended To Have Sex With Child

Police Say School Principal Intended To Have Sex With Child

(CNN) — Georgia authorities have arrested 14 people they accuse of traveling with the intent to have sex with children, including a suburban Atlanta elementary school principal, according to CNN affiliates and school system officials.

“I was notified (Sunday) that Mt. Carmel Elementary School Principal John McGill was arrested this weekend and is under investigation,” said Douglas County School Superintendent Gordon Pritz.

McGill has been suspended pending the state investigation, and the school system is cooperating with police, he said.

Before taking the job at Mt. Carmel, McGill was the principal at two other schools — one in the Douglas County system, the other out of state, said county schools spokeswoman Karen Stroud.

Stroud could not say how long McGill had been employed by the county, but the Douglas County Sentinel, citing a since-deleted biography on the elementary school’s website, reported the married father of six from Villa Rica had worked there 16 years

McGill, who is being held at DeKalb County jail, will appear before a county magistrate Tuesday at 1 p.m., defense attorney Mac Pilgrim said, adding that his client’s cell phone was confiscated as evidence when he was arrested.

The principal was arrested Sunday and is being held on a charge of electronic pornography and child exploration prevention, according to DeKalb County’s online inmate locator.

Pilgrim said Monday he had spoken to McGill’s wife, but not McGill, so he couldn’t say how he intended to plead in the case.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation did not immediately return calls, but CNN affiliate WXIA-TV reported that McGill and 13 others — ages 21 to 64 — traveled from all over Georgia to meet a child for sex, according to the GBI.